An Occurrence at Malchoir
by Ichabod Ebenezer
Summary: The crew of Serenity stumble upon a mugging victim in a brown coat outside a blue box and decide to nurse him back to health. As he regains his memory, he turns out to be more trouble than Mal was expecting. (Update) Added missing line breaks at scene cuts (basically chapters) to aid in readability. Please review! This is my first story on the site.


The Tardis put down in an unnamed alley off the main thouroughfare in Huáng Chóng City, the biggest city and capitol of Malchoir. Seconds later the door opened with a creak and the Doctor stepped out with a broad grin, looking around. He stuck his hands in his pockets, rocked forward on the balls of his feet and breathed in deeply through his nose. He immediately pulled a face and puffed the air back out where it belonged. Some things were not meant to be smelled.

He turned and locked the Tardis. Suddenly, there was a searing pain in the back of his head and the lights went out. He fell to the ground. The mugger stuffed the pipe inside his jacket and knelt over the prone form. "Get 'is key", said a voice. The mugger's partner stepped out of the darkness. "I want to see what 'e was locking away. Gotta be worth something, eh?"

The mugger smiled back at him, displaying blackened teeth. He pulled open the Doctor's hand and unwound the chain from his fingers. He stepped up to the blue box and put the key in the lock. He wiggled it back and forth, but it didn't turn. He pulled it out and blew on it and tried it again. Still no luck. He turned to his partner and shrugged. "It won't fit."

"Give it 'ere", said the other thief. "We just saw 'im lock it, didn't we, eh? Gotta fit." He snatched the key from his partner and pushed him out of the way. "Turn out 'is pockets, see what else 'e's got." He stuck the key in the lock and wiggled it. Nothing. He pulled it out a hair or so and wiggled it again. "Da-shiong bao-jah-shr duh la-doo-tze!", he cursed, slamming his hand against the box.

His partner pulled a pair of 3-D glasses out of the Doctor's pocket and put them on. He dug back in and pulled out a yo-yo, a plastic squirt-gun and a deck of cards. He switched to the other side and pulled out something that looked like a pen. He lifted his glasses to look at it closely, and pushed a button on the side. It buzzed at him and a light came on. "Aiya!", he said and threw it aside. He reached back into the man's inside coat pocket and pulled out his I.D. He gasped and called out, "Spanners!" He stood up and started frantically pointing at the paper in his hand. "Says here he's a special envoy to the governor!"

Spanners sneared. "Like you can read. Let me see that." He tore the identification out of his partner's hands and looked at it closely. "Shiong mao niao", he said under his breath. He tossed the I.D. onto the Doctor's chest. "Whatever you took, leave it. Anything is missing, they'll never stop looking for us." His partner turned his back and took off the glasses and stuffed them into his pocket, then pretended to put them in the Doctor's pocket. "Come on", Spanners said, "Let's go make sure we was seen far away from 'ere."

* * *

"Let me see the money again Mal", Jayne said. "Been so long we ain't had a job I forgot what money looks like."

Mal kept walking, setting a pace somewhat faster than natural. "When we get to the ship I'll even let you smell it. Just now though, we keep moving. Won't take long for Panchette to figure out his new toy was ill-got. When he does he'll either do the right thing and have us arrested, or he'll do the wrong thing and figure he paid us too much. Either way, it suits me fine to be out of system."

Jayne looks over his shoulder, suddenly nervous. "But that's why the doctor came with us. Add airs and legitimacy and whatnot."

"And that's why you stayed outside", Mal responded. "Still probably bought us ten minutes head start." He pointed up ahead. "Through here to the docks. Zoe, take the rear. Make sure we're not followed."

Zoe chambered a round in her 22 lever-action rifle and fell behind. Simon called to his sister, "Stay close River."

Mal and Jayne turned into the alley and the doctor followed, leading River by the hand. Zoe turned and walked in backward. Half-way down, Simon let go of River's hand and knelt down. "Hold up captain", he called out. "There's a man here. It looks like he's been attacked."

"Saw him. Not our problem. Stop for long, and we'll have problems to spare. If he's dead, we can't help him. If he's not, he doesn't need our help. Leave him be." He turned and started walking again.

Zoe shown a light on the body. "Captain", she called. "Might want to take a second look."

Mal stopped and turned. In the light of Zoe's torch he could see the brown coat. "Fay-fay duh pee yen. Fine, but you treat him on board. He can find his way back here if he still wants to. Jayne, carry him."

"I ain't got no love for Browncoats, present company excluded, of course. Why am I stuck with the heavy lifting?"

"Because you do love your cut of the money and you won't get any if you don't", Mal said without stopping. River knelt down amongst the rubbish of the alley while Jayne lifted the man's body. She seemed fascinated by something she found there.

"Come away from there, River", said her brother. She stood up, hiding something in the folds of her skirt as she did so, but then bent down again to pick up something that dropped from the man's body. "What do you have there?", Simon asked.

River smiled up at him mischievously. "Shineys" was all she would say.

* * *

They made it back to the ship with no sign of pursuit. Kaylee and the Shepherd were in the cargo bay when they arrived.

"Kaylee, is she ready to fly?", Mal called out as he swept through.

"Good as new, captain", she replied.

"Good. Tell Wash to get her in the air." He started climbing the catwalk.

Shepherd Book sees Jayne carrying a limp body into the hold and asks, "Anything we ought to know about our newest passenger?"

The captain called over his shoulder, "Just that he ain't in need of your services just yet. The doctor gets a crack at him first. He also wears a brown coat. Now you know as much as we do." With that he disappeared into the corridors above.

Jayne laid the man down on the floor of the cargo hold. The doctor started to protest, "If you could just bring him up to my examination room..."

"You've got two good arms, doctor, and I was only told to see him aboard ship." He stepped back and mocked a bow. "Your patient, sir." Then he went to the open bay doors and flipped the lever to shut them.

The doctor pulled a face but didn't say anything. He knelt down next to the stranger and began his examination. He quickly found the soft spot on the back of his head. He started mumbling to himself. "Swelling is obvious, but no breaking of the skin, so no blood loss. But there is fluid build up... Possible fracture, and the pons are concussed." He moved his fingers down the back of his skull in a manner like a centipede walking until he reached the junction of neck and shoulder. "No obvious spinal injury." He stood up and brushed imaginary dust from his hands. He spoke in a louder voice for anyone that was listening. "Looks like our friend here was mugged. Sometimes the simplest answer is the correct one. Still, I'd like to cradle his neck while getting him up to my exam room for some x-rays."

Book took the towel he had been using to wipe off his sweat and threw it onto the workout bench. "I'll help you doctor." Simon nodded his thanks.

Kaylee and River looked on as the two men lifted the prone figure. Kaylee leaned toward River conspiratorially. "Stranger's pretty good looking, don'cha think?" River just smiled shyly. Kaylee straightened back up and continued, "Turns a girls thoughts toward the sweaty."

* * *

The stranger woke painfully. He opened his eyes, but that hurt even more, so he closed them again. Eventually he compromised and squinted. The room was bright, and he couldn't make out much detail, but there was someone else there, sitting in front of him and to the right. He tried to sit up and his head blazed with pain. He reached around to the back of his head and touched it gingerly. It was even more painful, but he noticed that it was cold. He laid back down and immediately understood why his head was cold - He was laying on a cold pack. It was one of the chemical type where you broke an internal seal and mixed the two chemicals until it turned icy. Somebody was taking care of him. He decided to try to talk to whoever was here.

"Hello?", he called out. He squinted again toward the figure he could vaguely see. It shifted a bit, but did not respond.

He tried again. "Thank you for tending to me. My name is..." He trailed off. He suddenly realized he couldn't remember his name.

The figure slid down off the bench it had been on, and stepped in front of him, holding something out. A girl's voice said, "It says I'm the queen of all the 'verse."

He raised his head slightly and tried opening his eyes again. He waited until he could focus on what was in her hand. She was holding out an object the way a cop holds out a badge, but it was just a blank piece of paper. He turned to look her in the eyes. She seemed completely serious. "No it doesn't", he said. "It's completely blank."

She flipped the badge around to look at it again, and she smiled, then she flipped it back to him. "Yes it is. Totally blank. But it also says 'Queen of all the 'verse'. Can't you see it?"

He looked at her quizzically, but she seemed so earnest that he looked back at the paper. This time he could see it. His eyes told him that the paper was blank, but his mind told him there were words on it. Still another part of his mind told him both were right but he should believe his eyes. "Where did you get a thing like that?"

She closed it up and handed it to him. "It's yours", she said. He took it and turned it in his hands, hoping for some spark of familiarity. He opened it and looked at the paper again. Mind and eyes both agreed that it was blank now.

"What's your name?", he asked her.

"River Tam", she said. "But don't tell anyone. It's a secret. No one is supposed to know where my brother and I are." She paused for a moment, then said, "This is yours too." She held up a silver cylinder slightly larger than a pen. She pushed a button and a blue lens on top lit up and it emitted a warbling sound.

He held out his hand. This struck a memory. "I... once met... someone named River. And she had one of these." He tried to remember more, but nothing came.

Simon came in just then. He smiled when he saw his patient sitting up. He pulled out a small penlight and shown it in the man's eyes, one at a time. "It's good to see you up and about. My name is Simon. I'm doctor aboard this ship." He bent his knees until he was looking the man eye to eye. He reached around to feel the back of the man's head. "How's the pain? I can't give you too much because I want you conscious, but we can at least take the edge off." He raised his eyebrows, waiting for a response.

"No, um, it's fine -Well, it's not that bad -Well, it hurts like hell, but I won't need the meds."

"Uh huh", said Simon. "Stick out your tongue?"

The Doctor did so, and Simon shown his light on his throat. "What's your name?", he asked.

The Doctor started to respond, but River spoke first. "He doesn't remember." Then she added, "But if he remembered, he wouldn't tell you. It's a secret."

Simon gave River a strange look that spoke volumes, then turned back to his patient. "I see you've met my sister. Don't pay too much attention to what she says. She's still very much a child at heart." He palpated up and down his patient's spine. "Any pain here?", he asked, then further down, "Here?"

The man responded negatively both times.

"Good", said the doctor. He stepped back and leaned against the counter that River had been sitting on. "Well, I wouldn't worry about the memory loss. With an injury like you've sustained, this is not too uncommon. It will most likely return slowly as the injury heals. I x-rayed your head, which didn't reveal any fractures, and I see no sign of permanent injury. I want you to try to stay awake for the next 24 hours though, and try to have someone with you at all times. Okay?"

The Doctor raised a hand to his brow. "Doctor's orders", he said and clicked his tongue as he snapped a salute.

Simon smiled. "Okay. If the pain gets worse, or if you start feeling nauseous or dizzy, let me know right away." He stood up and put the penlight in his front pocket. "We've got to call you something though." He walked around the examination chair. "How about John? John Doe."

"Smith", his sister said.

"Okay", Simon chuckled. "John Smith. Do you think you can eat? I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew."

* * *

Most of the crew was already sitting around the table when they got there. Simon showed the Doctor to a seat between Jayne and Shepherd Book. There was a counter between the table and the cooking area, and River sat up on it cross-legged. She grabbed a roll from a basket of bread next to her, and tearing a chunk from it, ate greedily. Simon sat across the table from the Doctor and introduced him as John Smith.

He went around the table, first introducing Shepherd Book. "Good to see you up and about Mr. Smith", he said. "You got quite the knock on the noggin."

Next Simon introduced Jayne. "I carried you", was all he could think to say. The Doctor thanked him and looked to the woman seated next to Jayne.

She introduced herself. "My name is Inara", she said. "I'm a licensed companion, so if you want, I could pull some strings and try to find out who did this to you." The Doctor nodded his thanks.

Just then Kaylee bounced into the room. "This is Kaylee", Simon said. She smiled and raised a hand, curling her fingers in a cute little wave, but she said nothing as she passed into the cooking area and ladled herself some stew. "She's the ship's engineer. Wash points the ship where it's heading, but Kaylee is the one who keeps it going." She smiled again, this time at Simon. She walked back into the common room. As she passed by River, River dipped her bread in Kaylee's stew. She mocked slapping at River, but River shoved the bread in her mouth and laughed.

"Finally, this is Zoe", the doctor continued. A beautiful black woman sitting next to Simon nodded her head and waited for the rest of her introduction. "She's first mate on Serenity, and she served with the Captain before that. She's also responsible for tonight's feast."

"What's a first mate doing cooking meals?", the Doctor asked.

Kaylee spoke up, "Don't go giving her airs, or she might stop. We all take turns, excepting Captain Mal, but we all live in wait for Zoe's cooking, and dread of Jayne's."

"Ya'll are welcome to divvy up my duties anytime."

Zoe speared a carrot out of her stew and paused before taking a bite. "Where did you serve, Smith?"

"Serve?", Smith said.

Simon stepped in. "The blow to the back of his head has robbed him of most of his memory. Should be temporary."

Zoe nodded and popped the carrot in her mouth. She chewed for a few moments then indicated the stranger's clothing with her fork. "Your coat marks you as serving on our side during the war."

"Mmm. No, I'm not a soldier", he said looking down at his coat. "At least I don't think so. I never fought in - Wait!" His eyes grew wide and he slammed his hand on the table. "Gallifrey!" He looked around excitedly. "Is that a place? Or a thing?" He got no reaction from anyone. He snapped his fingers several times rapidly. "Or, or, or a thing at a place? Maybe a ship? A girl's name?" Still no reaction. Still he was happy to have a word to go with an idea. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table. "Well, whatever it is, it is definitely a thing. And I fought for it. Quite valiantly too, I'd wager. Though, if you lot don't know what it is, I'm betting I lost."

Zoe was quiet for a while, then started eating again. "Loss is something anyone in a brown coat can talk a bit on."

The room was quiet except for the sounds of utensils scraping and muted chewing until Mal and Wash walked in talking between the two of them. Mal broke off as they approached the table. "So, doctor", he started.

"Yes?" both Simon and Smith answered together.

Mal looked at the newcomer, confused.

"Are you remembering something else?", Simon asked. "Are you a doctor as well?"

"No, not *a* doctor, *the* Doctor", he responded. "I think that's my name."

"Doctor", he said, over-enunciating the word. "Doc-tor. Doctor, Doctor, Doctor", he continued saying it, slightly differently each time, and with a distant look as if he were tasting the word, trying out how it feels in his mouth. Then he blinked and focused on the crew. "Yes, that's it." He smiled, a bit too broadly. "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

"Stupidest name I've ever heard of. What did they call you back in the army? Private Doctor?" Jayne said derisively.

"Jayne", said Kaylee sympathetically.

"No", said Jayne waving her off. "What am I supposed to call *him* now?", he continued, pointing at the doctor. "Simon? I'll swear off piracy before that happens."

"Doctor Tam", Mal started again with a meaningful look around to anyone else who felt like interrupting. "Am I to infer that our latest guest has conveniently forgotten certain details of his life such as what he was doing in an alley in Huáng Chóng, and indeed who he even is?"

"No", said the Doctor with a hurt expression. "I just told you. I'm the Doctor."

Mal held up an impatient finger in the Doctor's direction without taking his eyes off Simon.

"In a nutshell", Simon said slowly, watching Mal's expression for any hint of the safe response. "Though given his injury, I don't think he would call it convenient."

Mal put his finger down and turned to face the Doctor. "Well, Doctor, Serenity is no place for a free-loader. If you aren't a paying passenger, you are either crew or ballast. What can you do around here that's useful to me?"

"Well, you can start by adding me to your meal rotation. I make a mean omelet-"

"Got no eggs."

"Okay, I can whip up a pretty good ham and cheese-"

"Got no cheese."

"I can...", he said, then stopped. Then he brightened and said, "I'm really good at improvising."

"Ladies and gentlemen", Mal said, grabbing his plate and heading into the kitchen. "We have a new full-time cook."

* * *

Shepherd Book stayed up with the Doctor well into the night playing card games and telling stories. Wash joined them sometime after 2:00AM saying that he couldn't sleep. A short while later, Book bid them goodnight and took his leave. The Doctor and Wash spent the next couple hours talking about exotic locales and his love of flying in general, and Serenity in particular. "I mean", he started, leaning forward and gesturing with his hands as he spoke, "you could serve a few years aboard Serenity, then take a job on board another Firefly. Same specs, same parts, same wiring. But there is, I don't know, a soul to a ship. That other ship wouldn't feel the same. And I don't know what it is. We've replaced so many parts on board this ship that very little is the same as when I signed on." He sat back again and took a drink. Then he ran a hand lovingly over the leather of the couch he was sitting on. "But her soul. One hundred percent Serenity. You wouldn't get that in another ship."

The Doctor did understand, but didn't know why. He had a flash of himself caressing the controls of a ship with the same kind of love Wash just exhibited. Some of the places Wash had mentioned sparked a memory too, and the Doctor had brief flashes of places, creatures and people he was sure were friends of his. None of it stuck though and trying to pursue any of these flashes just led to blanks. He could picture a ginger woman with a mole on her chin running through a darkened library, but he couldn't even think of her name. He let his mind go blank while Wash talked. Every time something he said sparked a picture in his mind, the Doctor paused on it, examined it in every detail and accepted what it meant to him in the moment without trying to force it to mean more.

One thing he knew was that he had a ship of his own, although labels like 'captain' or 'pilot' felt wrong. Navigator sounded better, but still not quite right.

Toward morning, ship-time, Kaylee shuffled in covered in a blanket. Only her head, her earthen mug, and her fluffy slippers poked out. "Mornin'", she croaked sleepily. "Tea?", she managed to add while yawning.

"Oh Kaylee, my hero, that is exactly what I need. Cuppa tea", the Doctor responded.

Kaylee put her mug down and pulled a mason jar out of a cupboard. She filled an electric kettle from the tap and switched it on. She happened to catch her reflection in the microwave, and ran her hand through her hair a few times before pulling the blanket back up as a hood. The Doctor got up, walked into the kitchen area and started looking through cupboards. He noted where the plates were, pulled a whisk out of another, flexed it a few times and set it on the counter. "That'll be for later", he said and looked through a few more cupboards until he found the mugs. "Ah", he said and shifted a few before picking out a deep blue one and setting it next to Kaylee's.

"Baskets are back there", Kaylee said, pointing to a drawer behind him.

The Doctor turned around and opened the drawer. He pulled out two individual tea baskets and set them on the counter. Then he pulled out a third and held it up. He looked at Wash and asked, "Tea?"

Wash stood up slowly and said, "Actually, I think sleep may have learned its lesson, and I'm going to give it a second chance."

The Doctor and Kaylee wished him a good night and soon after, the kettle dinged off. Kaylee shuffled back toward her room with a smile on her face and her nose in her steaming tea cup.

* * *

The crew of Serenity woke to the smells of breakfast done well. Hatches started opening and heads poking out; first Jayne started sniffing the air with a bewildered expression, then Mal, Wash, River and Simon joined him. As it dawned on Jayne that he wasn't alone he quickly slammed his hatch and got dressed, stopping only briefly to yell, "Dibs!"

Within minutes, the table was full. The Doctor opened up the oven and produced a tray covered in individual pots flowing over with a bubbly, bready, savory tower. He set one down in front of each of them and hurried back to the kitchen, whisking something in a small pot.

"What the hell is this?", Jayne asked, poking at his.

"It's good, is what it is", Kaylee responded around a mouthful.

Inara just stared at hers as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "Soufflé?"

"How the goo yang did you manage a soufflé when I told you we've got no eggs?", Mal asked.

"Well", the Doctor said, bringing the pot over to the table. "You don't actually need eggs to make a soufflé, you just need a liquid protein source that forms long polymer chains. I learned long ago from a charming fellow named Hervé This that you can do wonders with protein powder, distilled water and the right application of heat and cold. He pointed over Wash's shoulder at the middle of his soufflé. "Poke it with your fork right there." Wash hesitantly did so, and the Doctor dripped some of the liquid from his pot through the hole. "And voilà! Yorkshire soufflé."

Wash tried a bite and almost involuntarily said, "Oh my god." Immediately everyone else poked a hole in the center of theirs, and the Doctor drizzled the pan drippings into each.

Everyone ate greedily. "There's bacon as well", the Doctor said quietly.

* * *

Breakfast went quickly, but loudly. And for the first time since he came on board, the conversation wasn't all about him. The Doctor stood in the kitchen eating bacon and listening to the crew talking and laughing. He enjoyed the way the conversation flowed like a living thing all its own, travelling to all parts of the table with each participant adding to it before it moved on to gain from someone else's perspective. "This", the Doctor thought, "is the soul of Serenity." He smiled broadly and threw a tea towel over one shoulder to start on the dishes.

He paused in front of the sink and reached out with two fingers to brush them across the faucet. He closed his eyes, concentrating all of his awareness on his fingertips. He felt the cold, smooth metal. Beyond that he felt the unique thrumming vibration of the ship, Serenity's heartbeat. He felt the familiarity of this gesture and the unfamiliarity of this ship's heartbeat. He remembered his ship in this moment, in how it was different from this one. He could hear the sound it made. He could feel the subtle shift in its gravity when he pulled one particular lever. He could taste its air in his lungs.

He opened his eyes, and he was standing at a six-sided console littered with controls. He stepped around it to find one particularly large lever. He heard it click several times as he pushed it fully forward. A glass structure in the center started slowly moving toward the ceiling, and he heard-

Simon tapped him on the shoulder. The Doctor was back in Serenity's kitchen holding the water on full. He shut the tap quickly and turned to face the ship's doctor. "You mentioned learning to cook. Does this mean you are recovering memories?"

"Yeah. Erm, bits and pieces. Funny though, it doesn't seem to work when I'm trying to remember things, but when I'm thinking about something else, it's right there."

"Well, don't try too hard or you are liable to get frustrated. The important thing is not to be impatient. Remember, it hasn't even been a day, alright?" He put a hand on the Doctor's shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Before you know it, this part will just be another of your many memories." He patted his shoulder a couple times, then handed him his plate. "An excellent breakfast", he said, and walked off.

* * *

The Doctor was still doing dishes when the captain walked in wearing a spacesuit and carrying another. He tossed a helmet at the Doctor who quickly put down the plate he was drying and caught it. "Suit up, Doctor", the captain said. "Time to earn your keep."

The Doctor set the helmet down and caught the suit that was thrown next. "Mind if I ask where we are going?" He removed his shoes with his feet while shaking out the suit, boot-side-down.

"We found a ship, the Mary Celeste, adrift, with no distress or salvage beacons, and no life signs. We're coming alongside now to board and salvage what we can. Radiation levels are pretty heavy and we don't know if there's atmo, but don't worry. There's lead thread woven through the suit that will protect you for the short time we'll be exposed."

Zoe walked in just then, fully suited and carrying a helmet under each arm. "Airlocks are connected and we've confirmed handshake. Their computer is on low power and basic functionality is available."

The captain nodded his head and accepted a helmet from Zoe as the Doctor zipped up his suit. Zoe helped them both with their helmets, then the captain helped her with hers. Zoe then went to a panel on one wall, opened it up and removed three torches. She handed one to the captain and one to the Doctor, then headed aft. The captain and the Doctor followed. Only then did the Doctor notice that both captain and first mate had loaded holsters strapped to their suits. The Doctor hadn't been offered a gun, but upon contemplation, he was more comfortable without one.

One corridor, a flight of stairs and two catwalks later they were standing in the airlock with Serenity's door shut behind them and the unknown ahead. For a moment, nobody moved or spoke. Then Zoe exhaled slowly, but loudly enough to be picked up by the comms in the other two helmets. She unsnapped the strap securing her rifle and clicked on her flashlight. Mal drew his revolver and cocked it with one hand before pushing the button to open the airlock. Nobody says the word "Reavers" as the door slowly rises, but both Mal and Zoe could almost hear it anyway.

The ship was eerily quiet and only the emergency lighting strips lit the passages ahead. It felt like entering a tomb. Zoe walked to a panel on the opposite wall which lit when she touched it. "CO2's a bit high, but its breathable. Still, radiation's even higher than we thought from outside the hull - high enough to cook you well done."

"Affirmative. Suits stay on. We stay together until we reach a viable terminal and get the layout of this boat. Doctor stay behind us, but keep a lookout in case we are flanked."

"Shall I close the airlock, so they don't get onto Serenity?", the Doctor asked.

"No", the captain answered. "We may just as likely need the quick escape."

The Doctor pointed his flashlight back behind him toward the open airlock. There was a small window in Serenity's lock. Through it he could see Jayne's smiling face. Jayne gave a little wave, then raised a rather large rifle to the window. The Doctor nodded appreciatively and turned back to follow Mal and Zoe.

The group started heading fore until the first branch amidships. There were doors on either side of the passage, the first of which turned out to be storage and the next set were showers. After that the corridor opened into the engine room dominated by the massive engine, currently quiet, recessed with a catwalk over the top of it. Another catwalk led to a corridor fore, and a spiral staircase at the junction of the catwalks lead up. Most importantly, there were a pair of consoles on the fore end of the room. The Doctor took a seat in front of one. "I should be able to get this working in no time", he said, pressing a few buttons.

"Good", Mal said. "Find a map and locate the cargo bays. Look for an inventory - that will make salvaging go quicker. If you can pull up logs and security, find out how many passengers there are and where they are now. Zoe and I will head to the bridge and find out if there's any life still in her. We'll be back here in five minutes. If anything happens before then - anything at all, you yell and we'll be here."

The Doctor saluted, and Mal and Zoe headed into the forward corridor. He watched them go until all he could see were the bobbing ellipses of bright white made by their flashlights on the walls and floor of the corridor, then he removed his helmet. He took a deep breath through his nose and look back and down at the sabotaged engine, pulled a face and shrugged. He reached into his inside jacket pocket through the neck of his spacesuit and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. He pointed it at the console and activated it. Screens quickly flashed by, and he extended the screwdriver, accelerating the process. He flicked it off again, staring at the screen. "What?" He put his sonic away and tapped a few buttons, flipping back a few screens to make sure he saw what he thought he saw. He then brought up the security schematic of the ship. Two life signs in the bridge, one in engineering. "What?"

He stood up and put on his helmet, grabbed his flashlight and ran up the spiral staircase to the mess. A much larger ship, there were six cafeteria style tables in there. Some of them had plates of food on them. He ran one gloved finger over the cool metal table and examined it, then ran to the galley. It had a walk-in freezer which he threw open and ran inside. There were shelves of supplies as well as two carcasses hanging from the ceiling. He examined each of these in turn, then ran back out the door and slammed it behind him. He continued running aft until he hit a wide door. He tried to peer in through the window, but couldn't see anything. He found a keypad at the side of it, punched at several numbers and hit a green key. It buzzed at him. He tried hitting zero several times and the green button. It buzzed again. Frustrated, he removed his helmet and retrieved his sonic again. He pointed it at the keypad and activated it. The door began opening almost immediately, but slowly. He put the helmet back on and stood in front of the door impatiently holding his sonic in one hand and the flashlight in the other. When the opening was large enough, he hopped through.

The room was cavernous, and there were enough large crates that his flashlight beam didn't penetrate far. There were a couple crates stacked up just to his left, so he climbed up on one then pulled himself up onto the other. He stood up and shone his beam around. There were two large short-range shuttles surrounded by crates like the one he was standing on, about two meters on a side and stacked two or sometimes three high. He shone his light in between the crates, and seeing nothing, he lowered himself to the first crate and jumped to the ground.

He ran between the crates to the two shuttles. He quickly circled one, looking and searching for an entrance. He ran the sonic screwdriver over one of the landing gear to no avail. He ran back around to the front of the craft and stepped back. He could see the window into the cockpit, and it looked like there was a ledge just under it. He turned around and climbed another stack of crates, carefully judged the distance and jumped to the ledge. He peered in through the window. There were two seats in front of the console just on the other side of the glass, and another larger chair a ways behind them that was blocking his view any further back. He edged his way along the ledge with his face pressed against the glass, trying for a better angle and shining his light down past the captain's chair.

"If you are contemplating taking a ship for your own and running, you might want to think again", came the captain's voice inside the Doctor's helmet.

The Doctor turned to see Mal and Zoe standing between the towers of crates. Zoe had her rifle trained on him. Mal stepped forward and continued. "These two beauties, though excellent craft, are strictly short-range transport. You see, a ship of this manufacture was never meant to enter atmo and so you need a smaller craft to ferry crew and cargo to and from a planet. However, this far out-"

"Where are the bodies?", the Doctor interrupted.

"What?", Mal asked, caught off-guard by the question.

"Wash told me a bit about these Reavers of yours, yeah? The way I hear it, they like to show off their victims, but other than personal quarters, we've been over the majority of this ship. No bodies." The Doctor slid down the front of the ship and landed just in front of Mal. "All the officers logs went dead 10 days ago after a 'routine refueling', but just two days ago the ship's automated logs show that they docked with another ship. There were 23 crew members on board this ship. Did the Reavers take all the bodies with them and leave on the new ship?"

Mal didn't like not having answers to questions he didn't even know were there. "Doctor, don't ever imagine that you can place a rational motive to something the Reavers do. They are by definition irrational."

"Yes, yes", the Doctor said, waving a hand in front of his face dismissively. "But even chaotic systems build patterns. Animals act on predictable urges. Even without reasoning behind it, Reavers will tend to do what Reavers tend to do." He stepped eye to eye with Mal. "Do Reavers ever carry eight-day-old bodies from ship to ship, Captain Reynolds?"

"There's only one thing I know for sure about Reavers, Doctor", Mal said quietly. "I know I'm glad they aren't here." He turned around and walked past Zoe. "Both of you start opening these crates closest to the shuttles. Inventory says they're full of Alpaca hides, and I know a lady on Quislet would pay top credit for some warmth this time of year."

"Lanie, sir?" Zoe asked, holstering her rifle.

"Lanie", Mal confirmed. He tapped a few buttons on a console in the middle of the room, and both shuttles opened a loading door. He raised his arms in triumph.

"You don't think she's still sore about you skinny-dipping with her daughter?"

Mal lowered his arms, a misunderstood look on his face. "But that was ages ago."

Zoe just cocked an eyebrow, smiled and turned to start opening crates.

* * *

After they finished loading the shuttles with hides, the three of them walked back through the ship to the airlock and reentered Serenity. They took off their suits and got checked for radiation levels. Mal told Jayne to gather up the crew for a meeting. Minutes later they were sitting around the table in the mess with Mal standing in front of them, still holding his helmet.

"Whatever happened here, whoever boarded this ship, they're gone now. We've checked the ship and it's clean. Safe. They also have a lot of cargo, more'n we can salvage, plus two shuttles, bigger than will fit in our bay. So here's the plan. We've loaded the most valuable cargo onto both of the shuttles. I will pilot each of those one at a time so that its bay is open just in front of Serenity's. Book, I'm going to need your muscle over there. Jayne, you too. We only have the three suits, so this will be a two person job. You are going to heave cargo bundles off the shuttle. Serenity's bay will be a hard vacuum, so we won't have anyone on the receiving end. Kaylee, Doctor and doctor, you crank the seals shut as soon as Book, Jayne and I are in the bay. Watch for and plug any leaks. She's not used to empty space in her belly. Wash, catching these bundles is going to be up to you, so you are in the bridge on maneuvering thrusters. Inara, I need you in your shuttle as spotter. You maintain radio contact with Wash and let him know which way he needs to go.

"Once the cargo from both shuttles is across, we'll reconnect the two ships and the away team will rejoin Serenity. Then we're off to Quislet to collect our payday. Any questions?"

"I have", said the Doctor. "What are we going to do about the crew?"

Jayne scoffed. "What'dya wanna do, bury them?"

"That's just it", the Doctor said. "There aren't any bodies."

Mal sighed, exasperated. "So they were having engine trouble, and another ship rescued them. There's no big mystery. They just left in the other ship you found in the records."

"But for eight days prior, they didn't perform any duties onboard ship, no logs, no one checked their post, they didn't even eat!" The Doctor started pacing. He grasps handfuls of his own hair as if willing himself to remember something important. "And you saw the damage to the engine", he stopped, turned and pointed at the captain. "That was deliberate."

"And the only things crazy enough to do that are Reavers", Zoe chimed in.

"No, I've seen this before", the Doctor waved her off and resumed pacing. "But why? Why were they so desperate for gamma radiation that they'd cripple their propulsion this way?"

Simon looked back and forth between the Doctor and Mal. "Because they're nuts?", he said slowly.

"No, no, no, no, no, no", the Doctor said quietly, and mostly to himself. Then louder, "Think. These people were professionals. You don't acquire a ship that big, a cargo that size without a bonafied reputation. And up until 10 days ago, they did everything by the book. Why did their behavior change? Because they were taken prisoner. Something came onboard ten days ago, but they didn't dock with another ship. Then when they did dock with the second ship their captors took them onto the new ship."

He rounded on Mal again. "Captain, it's not just one crew, but two in need of rescue. We've got the ship's transponder code from the logs, we need to set a course immediately to intercept."

"Doctor, you are moving dangerously close to ballast. I'll not be told on my own ship what I need to do. Now, you were out cold when you came aboard, so you probably didn't notice we don't _have_ any weapons. They have an armed force able to subdue 23 crew members plus however many on the second ship. We have an engineer, a preacher, a whore -" Inara tisked and rolled her eyes. "- two doctors, a head-case, one damn fine pilot and three people who are actually any good in a fight. Now, I've done the math, and I'll be a ching-wah tsao duh liou mahng if I'm getting involved." Mal turned to leave.

"If it was your crew you'd go after them alone", River spoke up.

Mal slowly turned to face River, barely concealed rage on his face. "Then you'd best be glad you're one of us instead of one of them." He held her gaze for an uncomfortably long time, but she didn't look away.

"Doc, please remind me why I'm arguing with your sister? Would you get her out of here?" Simon moved quickly and took her by the elbow. She stood up willingly, but she continued to hold the captain's gaze as she turned to leave.

"You know, she had a point", Shepherd Book put in once the two had gone.

"Now don't you start in too."

"Oh, I'm not going to tell you how to run your ship", Book said, holding up his hands. "I'm just recalling times when you've faced worse odds armed with nothing more than a clever plan."

Mal sighed, exasperated, and rubbed his head. "Anyone else feel like sharing their opinion?"

Jayne raised his hand. "Mal's plan gets us paid. I-I'm with him."

Mal pointed at him. "Good man. Zoe?"

Zoe's hand never left her holstered rifle. "I'll back your plan captain, whatever you decide."

"Always appreciated", Mal said. "Kaylee?"

"I don't know cap'n. I like to think we're the good guys, and no one else even knows these people are in trouble." She averted her eyes. "Sorry."

"Oh, come on. Wash, back me up here."

"Oh no", Wash pushed his chair back. "I have exactly no opinion here. I love my job, my wife, and my friends."

Mal looked at Inara, regretting calling her a whore a moment ago. She opened her mouth to speak, but just then Simon burst in, stopping in the doorway. "Captain, we have a problem." He had an apologetic look on his face. "River's locked herself in the bridge."

* * *

The crew stood up and ran past Simon for the bridge. Wash got there first and started banging on the hatch. "Come on, don't do this."

Mal banged louder. "River open up." He turned to Zoe. "Get me a cutting torch." She turned and left.

The Doctor stepped forward. "Captain, allow me." He pulled out his sonic and began tracing the edges of the hatch. "River", he said, his voice raised. "This is not the way!"

The door unlatched and opened, but it wasn't because of the Doctor's sonic; River was standing at the doorway. A moment passed with the crew on one side of the doorway and River standing on the other, before she spoke. "Their eyes burn like their soul", she said defiantly, staring down Mal.

"Doc", Mal said to Simon in a dead calm tone of voice he reserved for when he was murderously angry. "Get her to her quarters. Wash, I want her back under my control. Pull the plug if you have to."

"I'll do what I can, captain, but she's better at this than me."

"Doctor, while you're waving that thing around, can you do anything to get me my ship back?"

"Yes. I'm good with locks and codes. At least I think so. But what I'm really good at is saving people." He grabbed the captain by the arm. Mal looked down at the Doctor's hand then looked him sternly in the eye. "Look", the Doctor continued. "I don't have all of my memory back, but I know the kind of person that I am, and this is what I do. Those people are still alive out there, but they won't be for long." He grabbed the captain's other arm as well, and stepped close enough to feel his breath. He whispered, "And I can save them! But only if you don't stop me."

"Doctor, I have more than once been accused of doing the right thing, but I have just as surely done the wrong thing for the right amount. Now Doctor, you listen." He paused for effect. "I'm not discussing this while Serenity is a hostage."

The Doctor spat out something uncharacteristic and with a desperate, determined look on his face, he ran into the bridge and pushed Wash aside. He pointed his sonic at the console and activated it. He moved it to point at a few key spots, then turned it off. "Hoban", he said, patting him on the back, "the comm is all yours."

He ran back to the captain. "Now?"

Mal leaned around him, "Wash?"

Wash turned around and threw up his hands. "He's right Mal, the comm is all mine."

Mal looked the Doctor right in the eye. "Wash, lay in a pursuit course for the new ship's beacon."

"No, belay that", the Doctor said, turning to Wash.

Mal gave him a weird look then looked at Wash, mouthing the words, " _Belay that_?"

The Doctor continued, "Make a course for the sun." He ran in and pressed a few buttons. An image of the star Kalidasa came up on an overhead monitor and the Doctor tapped it repeatedly. "This is where they are heading. We can cut them off." He ran out of the bridge again.

"How, exactly, do you know that Doctor?", Mal asked as the Doctor sped past him.

"No time to explain. Part of the plan", he called over his shoulder. "Kaylee, we need to make this ship go faster. You're with me." He paused at the doorway toward engineering and looked back at Kaylee with a manic smile. He cocked his head to one side and shouted, "Allons-y!", before ducking through.

Kaylee looked around, not quite understanding what was going on. She stood up and took a few steps, then looked back at the captain and pantomimed following the Doctor, then finally just decided to do so and fast-walked out of the room.

She caught up with the Doctor in the engine room. She located him by the buzzing sound coming from his sonic screwdriver underneath the engine. She knelt down to get eye to eye with him.

"This is the thermal coupling, yeah?", he said tapping a nodule that seemed glued onto the side of the engine. She nodded. "Good", he said, turning his attention back to the engine and reactivating his sonic. "I need to disable it temporarily. We're going to run the output through the delta buffer. We're also going to need to overclock the Feynman reactor-"

"No", Kaylee said shaking her head with a perplexed expression. "Doctor, that would flood this chamber with radiation, just like-" She stopped.

The Doctor turned off his sonic and poked his head out, "Just like...?"

Kaylee eyed him suspiciously. "Just like onboard the Mary Celeste..."

"Exactly, but this outmoded Firefly Aught-Three engine still has a radion-"

"A radion-accelerator", Kaylee finished for him. "But you can't be planning to-"

"Oh, but I am", the Doctor responded cheekily, a broad smile spreading across his face as he swung out from under the engine. "We're going to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow! Hah! Oh, it's been a while since I've said that!"

"And that means we'll be able to vent-", she started, showing some excitement as she got ahead of him.

"Not until I give the word", he cautioned, tapping her on the forehead with his sonic. "Do you know what to do Kaylee?"

"Yeah, I do", she replied, her mind still working overtime. "I know what to do, but I don't think I understand why. Either way, when you need me, I'll be ready."

"You are a genius, Kaylee", he kissed her on the forehead and ran out of the room. Kaylee watched the spot where he disappeared for several seconds after he was gone. Her hand moved slowly, as if under its own control, to her forehead where she could still feel his kiss. Then she seemed to come to her senses and grabbed a wrench to start her work.

The Doctor hit the stairs at a dead run. He bolted across the catwalk and leapt up the stairs opposite. He dodged around table and chairs on his way across the mess, then skidded to a halt. He ran back across the room, vaulting the table this time, and opened the lockers.

Moments later, the Doctor cranked open the hatch to the Tam siblings' bunk. Simon was standing at the bottom of the ladder looking up at the Doctor, perplexed. Before he could properly phrase his questions, his sister joined him. The Doctor held out an orange spacesuit and said innocently, "Care for a walk?"

River smiled broadly.

Simon's face fell into a look of surprise and fear. "Look, no, no, no, no, no way, no." River climbed the ladder. Simon followed her, exasperated. "River, you can't just-", but she was gone. He rushed the rest of the way until he was standing in the corridor. He looked back and forth between the Doctor and River, then pointed a finger at the Doctor. "Doctor, you can't just-", but just then Zoe walked in wearing a spacesuit.

"I'm going too. I'll keep her safe, doctor." River smiled devilishly and squeed, grabbed the spacesuit and ran off with it. The Doctor and Zoe turned and followed her at a run.

"Zoe!", Simon called out, "You can't just-", but he was standing in an empty corridor.

* * *

The three of them stood in the cargo bay as the doors slowly opened, and the atmosphere was vacated. It started as a whooshing sound dulled by the helmets they wore. It lessened, as they could see burlap tie-downs flapping slower and slower until they finally stopped and nothing could be heard. The Doctor clipped a line to his suit and handed it to Zoe. She clipped another link to her own suit, then clipped the end to River's suit. No one spoke.

Minutes passed silently as they stood at the open bay door until finally, Zoe pointed and the others followed her gaze. They could make out the bright point of light of the other ship's burners. Over the next several minutes it grew larger until they could make out the individual engines, then more and more details of the ship. It was of the large and blocky, even imposing design favored by the Alliance after Unification, with plenty of armaments as well. The full scale of it soon became obvious. Serenity could fit in her cargo hold.

Wash slowed as they came alongside her. The Doctor scanned her side, looking for the appropriate spot. He pointed to a hatch with a control panel next to it. It was on the same level as the bridge. Zoe activated her comm. "We have an entrance", she said, and Wash abruptly matched speed.

The Doctor stepped to the edge and braced himself with one hand, then he turned and tested the tether. He activated his comm. "Once I step off here, there will be no gravity until we enter the other ship. There can be no second thoughts from any of us. If anyone reaches the edge here and balks, our momentum will still pull us out, but our aim will be off. We will miss our target and end up drifting in the void. So if either of you think there is a chance you can't do this, disconnect now." He looked back and forth between the other two, but they were resolute.

He turned back to face the other ship and its airlock. "Allons-z", he said under his breath and threw himself forward.

Zoe watched the tether play out for a few moments then took a run up and leapt out after the Doctor.

River took a moment to observe the speed of the remaining line before running and jumping out of Serenity's cargo bay.

The Doctor held out his sonic screwdriver and braced himself for the collision with the other ship. There would be very little purchase, so he would have to absorb the impact as well as possible to avoid bouncing off the hull. He would also need to work quickly with his sonic. It occurred to him that in space there was no sound, so this time around 'sonic' screwdriver was a bit of a misnomer. It was more just a screwdriver. It would not work until it was in physical contact with the hull.

He had his arms and legs spread out to reach the airlock door before the rest of his body. His fingers and toes touched first, and as soon as they did, he drew his elbows back slightly to absorb some of the force. He flexed the muscles in his upper arms ever so slightly at first, then more and more until his facemask nearly touched the cold white metal. For a bare moment the force equalized, then he felt himself drifting back away.

He made a desperate grab for the lip around the edge of the door, and on his second attempt, he managed to wedge a hand against one side and his foot against the opposite side. He held on for a moment to make sure he really had it, then brought his sonic to bear on the keypad, pressing the tip against the bottom of the box and activating it. "Come on, come on", he said. He removed the sonic and extended it to its fullest before pressing it against the box again. It would be so much easier if he could hear it.

"Coming in hot, on your six", he heard Zoe say on his comm. He looked over his shoulder and saw that she was moments away from colliding with him, and she was indeed moving fast. The worst case scenario would be if she instinctively grabbed for him and ended up prying him off, so he stepped fully to the side closest to the keypad and continued his work with the sonic.

Zoe tried to absorb the impact in much the same manner as the Doctor had, but she hit quite a bit harder. Her helmet slammed against the door, and she grabbed for the lip on the right side of the door as she bounced back. She even just about had it for a moment too, but then she saw her gun floating away from her and she instinctively grabbed for it. She got a hold of it, but then as she reached back for the lip, she had floated too far away. "Doctor!", she called out.

The Doctor twisted around again. "Zoe!" he called back. "Hang on!" He reached for the tether between them with his free hand while holding on with his sonic hand. He pulled a length of tether, then let go and grabbed farther along, but before the line went taut, his attention caught on movement over Zoe's shoulder. River was coming in very fast. He turned his attention back to the keypad. He changed settings on his sonic and activated it again. A light on the top of the box changed from red to green.

The Doctor could feel a rumbling under his fingers, and the airlock door started sliding upward.

Just then, the line went taut, and the Doctor was yanked backward.

He stretched out his fingers toward the door frame to no avail. "No, no, no, no!", he called out in frustration. He was now at the mercy of momentum. He was slowly spinning around, the ships profile moving out of his field of vision to the left. Looking to the right as far as his helmet would allow, he could just see Zoe. For a moment their eyes locked, and the Doctor was struck by the strength he could see in her. She even cracked a crooked smile. "Don't worry Doctor, we've got this taken care of."

Then River zoomed past in the pose of an Olympic diver about to hit the water. She giggled. The Doctor twisted to watch her as she slid easily under the still opening air lock door. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Zoe get tugged as the slack went out of her tether. In a series of short bursts, she was pulled out of his line of sight. Moments later his own tether grew tight, and the two women pulled him into the airlock where the artificial gravity of the ship took effect and he stood up. On this side of the airlock there was a big friendly button which closed the door and started the repressurization.

The Doctor, out of breath though he had not exerted himself physically, nodded his thanks to River and Zoe then stood up and went to the panel on the interior of the airlock. It was identical to the one outside, except this one had a screen displaying the current air pressure. He activated his screwdriver a couple of times while waiting for the pressure to equalize with the rest of the ship. The familiar and iconic whirring sound was oddly distant at first, but became louder and changed pitch as if it were coming closer to him. When it sounded right to him, he looked back at the panel just in time to see it change over to 100%. He smiled broadly.

Zoe started to remove her helmet, but the Doctor stopped her. "No, don't. They will have done the same thing to the engines here as on the Mary Celeste. Radiation levels will be dangerously high." He took a step away from the panel, simply because he could, and pointed his sonic at the panel, activating it. He turned around triumphantly and the little light turned green behind him. Then he took off his own helmet and breathed in deeply. "Well, for you humans, anyway."

"Memory's a funny thing isn't it?", he asked rhetorically. "Mine was like a very large jigsaw puzzle, all jumbled up and scattered across the table. Every now and then I'd turn over a piece, but I wouldn't know where it fit or what it meant to the whole, so the best I could do was just collect the edge pieces and try to get a sense of what the overall picture was. But out there-" he pointed and walked over to the airlock, looking out the port hole at the space hanging between them and Serenity. "Out there I got an important piece. One that made so many of the other ones make sense. One that showed me how to fit them all together."

He turned back to the others. "In space there is no sound, and I've noticed when people are facing something as terrifying as what we've just done, they tend to be introspective and they don't do much talking. That leaves you alone with nothing but the sound of your own breathing, and just beneath that... your own heartbeat." He shrugged and walked over to the interior panel, laying a hand on it. He turned back toward them. "Or in my case, heartsbeat. You see, I'm an alien. A Timelord, to be precise, from Gallifrey in the constellation Kasterborous, and we have a binary vascular system. And ", he said, waving his hand around, indicating the atmosphere in general, "means of filtering out basic forms of radiation."

He pushed the door release mechanism on the panel and the door slowly began to rise. "Shall we go then? Aliens to see, people to rescue?"

The Doctor heard a voice coming from his hand, and he looked down to see his helmet was making noise. "You do know your suit's microphone is in your helmet, right?", came Zoe's voice. "We couldn't hear much of what you said, but let's just assume it was that you don't need a helmet, and that we're following you."

"Yeah...", the Doctor said sheepishly as he put the helmet back on. "That about sums it up."

* * *

The trio burst onto the bridge to find both the missing crews there. The bridge was an enormous horseshoe-shaped example of cutting-edge Alliance opulent efficiency. There were seven positions in the command deck surrounding a heavily-padded chair with high armrests on a swivel base. Down several steps to port, starboard and fore was a continuous bank of controls blinking with sensor readings and awaiting touchscreen input. Above those were battle-shields, currently shuttered over the viewport windows. None of the stations were currently manned.

The entire ship's complement, wearing the high-collared blue uniforms of Alliance officers, plus the crew of the Mary Celeste in yellow and grey, as well as nine Reavers in various states of dress were standing at attention watching an enormous display screen suspended from the ceiling at the very fore of the ship. The display was filled with a view of the star, slowly growing as they approached. The crew turned as one toward the Doctor, Zoe and River. They were all wearing welding masks.

The closest to the trio, a Reaver, stepped forward. "You will become us", it said in a slow, deep, inhuman voice.

Zoe raised her gun. The Doctor jumped in front of her holding his arms out wide. "Don't, don't, don't." He paused for a moment and addressed the Reaver. "I recognize you. I address the star that humans call Kalidasa."

The Reaver stopped for a moment, but then continued forward raising one hand to his mask while reaching toward the Doctor with the other.

The Doctor backed up a couple steps, but stayed between Zoe's gun and the Reaver. He moved his arms back a bit trying to encompass River in his aura of protection. "No, don't do this. Expanding into us won't gain you anything. I know how vast you are, and how constrainingly small these humans are, but three more won't be enough to help you, and that's what we came here for. To help you." The Reaver paused in his progress again, and the Doctor, taking that as a sign that Kalidasa was open to help, pressed the advantage. "The crew of the Mary Celeste made a mistake using your plasma for fuel, but their only real crime is ignorance, and the others are entirely innocent! I promise I will get you home again; make you whole. But I can do it without any deaths."

The entire combined crew took a menacing step toward them. The Doctor took another step back, and felt Zoe's gun against his back. Zoe and River were backed against the exterior bulkhead of the bridge with nowhere further back to go. River stepped to the side and pulling out a long curved blade, adopted a fighting stance. " _Please_! Let me save them!", the Doctor said, desperately now. The crew continued toward them.

Wash's voice came over the suits' comms. "We have reached threshold distance."

"Hoban", the Doctor said with obvious relief in his voice, "spin her 'round." He held up his sonic, extending the tip, and addressed the crew calmly now, even with a playful tone to his voice. "Do you want to see it? Your way home?"

He turned his head and pointed the sonic at the battle shutters, which snapped open. Out the port side, Serenity could be seen impossibly close to the massive Alliance ship, keeping pace, but now flying backward.

"Kaylee", the Doctor said into the suit's comm. "Vents on full!" The crew lifted one hand to lift their visors, an unbearably bright light coming from underneath.

Suddenly a beam of plasma burst from the tail of the Firefly. The crew turned their heads as one. "Zoe, River, shut your eyes tight!", the Doctor yelled. The three sank to the ground, pressed against the wall and turning away.

Even with their eyes screwed shut, the world around them went searing white, but inside their suits they were protected from the intense heat. The crew had all opened their visors and a blinding beam of light and heat emanated from their eyes, but was drawn almost magnetically to the gamma-laced plasma flooding from Serenity and bridging the distance straight into the heart of Kalidasa. They stood rooted to the spot, energy streaming from their eyes, seemingly unable to tear themselves away. Toward the end, their bodies began swaying, and as the last of the energy left their bodies, they collapsed to the floor where they had been standing.

The Doctor eased one eye open when the light died down. He surveyed the room filled with collapsed bodies, then opened both eyes and patted Chloe and River on the knees. "Time to go!" He leapt to his feet and leaned over the console to look out the window. Serenity was still firing a beam from its bulb, but the light seemed dimmer now. "Kaylee, turn it off, and start reversing the changes we made immediately. Wash, we're going to need a pick-up rather soon." He turned back to Zoe and River.

River was standing over the unconscious Reaver, while Zoe was knelt down next to a yellow and grey clad crew woman. She was holding the woman's welding mask in one hand and feeling her pulse with the other. She looked up at the Doctor. "Are they going to be okay now?"

"Yes", the Doctor responded with a sense of urgency. "They should be waking up any moment now, as if from a dream. They will remember what they did, but like they had watched someone else do it, they will be very hungry since they haven't eaten in over a week, and they will be in earnest when they suddenly realize they are plummeting into a star. But, yes, they will be physically okay."

As if on cue, most everyone started moving, some moaning, some removing their welding masks, and others attempting to stand. "Oh, one other thing", continued the Doctor. "Some of them are Reavers."

Zoe stood and raised her gun again as the Reaver closest to them struggled to his feet. She looked at the Doctor.

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not standing in your way this time. Everybody run!" And to demonstrate, he tore off back the way they came. Zoe fired off two shots and the first Reaver went down, quickly to be replaced by four others. She moved quickly backward with River just behind her, blade drawn and ready to take on anything that got within arm's reach of Zoe.

Another Reaver went down as Zoe fired off several more shots. All the remaining Reavers were closing on them now as they moved quickly backward through the corridors to the airlock. The Doctor, running as fast as he could in the bulky suit, levelled his sonic at the panel and activated it. The inner lock started rising, and was high enough for the Doctor to slide under by the time he got there.

He was at the panel when Zoe ducked through, firing her last shot and stowing her gun. "There are still five of them in pursuit."

The Doctor nodded. "The controls don't let me close the lock until it has opened all the way. I'm trying to override, but no luck so far."

River stepped inside, blade dripping blood. "Three more," she said.

The Doctor looked at her with his lips drawn tight and his eyes desperate. He looked at the interior door, just now reaching the fully open point and starting to close again. He looked back at River. Odds were three to one. Based on everything he's seen, and everything he sensed in her, that was probably in her favor, but he couldn't take the chance. "Forgive me," he said and grabbed Zoe by the arm. He turned and extended the sonic toward the exterior lock and activated it. The lock blew outward, and everything in this section of the ship was dragged out with it.

River watched those first seconds as if in slow motion. Despite no communication between the Reavers, the attack gave the appearance of being coordinated. The middle one was beginning a crouch to spring low at her while the other two went high. The one on her left was raising both arms and reaching forward. His attempt was clearly to grab her or even knock her down. The one on the right was ripping out a particularly large piercing from his shoulder to use as a weapon. A split-second calculation gave her several options of how to best counter all three. She selected the one that would control their movement to keep them away from Zoe and the Doctor, thus denying them secondary targets. She could hear the conversation between her shipmates, but so far nothing had been relevant enough to rise to the level of consciousness. She started her jump. She would leap over the middle one's attack and kick the left one in the neck, directing him slightly off course to land on the middle one. She would then transfer her attention to the one on the right and block his attack with the back of her blade, concentrating the energy of her swing on a point just above his elbow. She calculated the chance of breaking his arm at 83.2%

Before her kick landed, she felt a hurricane force wind flatten her suit against her chest and push her backward. She watched the Reavers as first the two that had hair got it blown into their faces and moments later they were thrown forward. The one in the middle did an almost comical somersault as he was thrown off balance and gravity essentially made a 90 degree turn. She watched as the droplets of blood freed by the right-side Reaver's recent elective surgery began to boil and evaporate. She closed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest.

She took a moment to enjoy the sensation of freedom. She tumbled, and those tiny hairs in her ears told her that she was moving, but she couldn't feel herself being pulled in any direction. She couldn't help but see that as a metaphor for her life at the moment. This brief interlude on-board Serenity. She could not predict how long it would last, but she intended to enjoy it, and to make it last as long as she could. But in the back of her mind, she knew it would end.

She opened her eyes and stretched her arm out over her head. Zoe caught it in her hand and pulled her in close. The three of them tumbled together. The lack of kinesthetic sense of motion conflicted with the wild motion sensed by their eyes. Every time they would catch an object in their field of vision, they would attempt to lock onto it as a point of reference, but it would spin out of sight before they could focus on it, only to enter from a seemingly random direction seconds later. They closed their eyes to avoid the rising swells of nausea, and an eternity passed.

The comm link crackled, and Inara's voice came over the line. "Four meters to your left, Wash, and a little heavier on the forward thrust. They are coming in fast. And watch the lateral movement. Six or seven meters to the left, erm, port and you'll pick up a Reaver as well."

Then Wash's voice cut in. "Is that my port or your port? Just kidding, I've got them." He maneuvered into position, then hit forward thrust. Zoe hit the deck first and rolled, letting go of the other two. The Reaver slammed hard against the hull and rebounded, grasping for purchase, but instead drifting into the void before asphyxiating.

* * *

The captain, the crew and the Doctor were in agreement this time, that they should make themselves scarce before the Alliance decided to detain them. Since their most recently filed flight plan had them heading to Malchoir, the captain had Wash lay in a return course. "I don't intend to touch down though, a few orbits ought to be enough to say we were there without any eye witnesses getting overly curious."

The Doctor raised his hand. "Could I get a lift to the surface? As thankful as I am to all of you, I'm anxious to get back to my own ship."

Inara volunteered. "I'll take him down in my shuttle."

"Oh", the Doctor said hesitantly, "I was kind of hoping Kaylee would take me. I'd like to get her impression of my, erm, drive system." He gestured toward Kaylee. "That is, if you're interested, of course."

Kaylee brightened. "Are you kidding? I'd love to!"

Inara shrugged as if to say, "Your loss."

The Doctor looked at Mal. "Fine by me, but you've got to have her home by 10."

"Oh, I'll have her back before you complete one orbit. Promise", he said and crossed both hearts.

Jayne leaned forward. "Uh, with the Doctor going, I assume we're going back to our normal rotations, but really he cooked during my spot, so I think Kaylee is next." He looked around hopefully.

"Tell you what", said the Doctor, "I've got some supplies back on my ship. I'll send Kaylee back with some eggs, and maybe some strawberries."

Everyone sat up a little straighter.

* * *

A day and a half later, Serenity was in orbit around Malchoir, and Kaylee was landing the shuttle at the port in Huáng Chóng City. She and the Doctor walked the streets with Kaylee babbling all the way, and the Doctor patiently listening. Kaylee wasn't paying too much attention to her surroundings until they stopped half-way down an alley in front of a blue box. She stopped talking abruptly as she tried to figure out what was going on. There was a door on the front of the box, and the writing at the top of it identified it as a "Police Public Call Box", whatever that was. She looked around for the Doctor's ship, suddenly noticing where they were and feeling very confused.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows as he opened up his coat and pulled a key out of his vest pocket. "Go on. The crates were filled with rainbow-swirly parasols?" He put the key in the lock on the door to the blue box and turned it.

She was so unsure of what to do now that she followed directions and went on with the story. "Well, Mal was livid, but I was sure I could sell them." The Doctor opened up the door and motioned for her to step inside. The whole situation felt so surreal that she did so, continuing her narrative. She turned as she passed him to maintain eye contact while she spoke. "He taught me some new Chinese that day, and just about jettisoned the lot." The Doctor followed her in and closed the door behind himself. He tossed his coat over the railing, and leaned back against the doors. "But since we were heading to Santo anyway, he gave me a shot..."

The Doctor raised his head and opened his eyes wide, exaggeratedly looking around the room. Kaylee got that surreal feeling again and followed the Doctor's eyes, seeing where she was for the first time. Her arms, which had been in the air as she pantomimed her actions, and her jaw both dropped. She spun around and held out her hands in front of her, expecting to touch a wall behind an incredibly convincing hologram. She walked like this all the way around the console, then stops, gawking at the Doctor. He counts two beats, then mouths the words "bigger on the inside", just as Kaylee says, "Huh choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo!"

The Doctor's mouth stood open for a moment. He looked down and scratched his head, wishing the Tardis translation circuit were a little more selective. "Really, really not what I thought you were going to say."

"No, it's brilliant!", she said, gaping. "I'm not even going to ask how you do it, but if you can keep extra dimensions inside this shell, I can imagine how it can move by manipulating the dimensions around it!"

The Doctor smiled, both pleased and proud. "Kaylee Frye, you are incredible, you know that? You really are. And believe me, I've been around and met some of the greats, and you are right up there with them."

Kaylee's smile retreated into her dimples as she expressed pride and embarrassment in equal measure.

"So!", the Doctor said as he launched himself from the door and ran to the console. He paused with one hand on a plotter and the other on a large lever. "Care to take her for a spin?"

"You bet your ass I do!", Kaylee responded, "but can we get back in time?"

"Aw Kaylee, time is just another vector in four-dimensional space, now isn't it? I can get you back for last Tuesday if I had to. So, shall we?"

Kaylee ran to the console and smiled widely. "What do I push to start her?"


End file.
